I really want to agree with you but I teach at a small college and (almost) all my students couldn't care less about Microsoft and trust. They all have hotmail or msn or yahoo email addresses, lay it all out on facebook and myspace and they don't know about MSs tactics. So if MS is shooting for the (lucrative) young-and-ignorant demographic, they will succeed (people who know what they are in the minority).
I've found that young people very trusting and don't care about privacy.
So just like the rest of the sleazy successful businesses of targeting the ignorant (spam, late night commercials, mailings, etc.), they will find a big market and make money... Wal-mart doesn't make money by earning trust or catering to the elite either. Same market.
I agree with you about AVG and recommend that and Zonealarm to windows people as free (cost) alternative. I just think it's funny how both websites hide the free versions to the point what it's easier to google 'free AVG' or 'free zonearalarm' (if you don't want to run through the maze the websites put you through).
You know what's going to happen though after step 6? The new company will turn evil and become just as bad as the company it usurped. The cycle of life continues...
I use iWork but I'm worried that one day Apple will decide they don't want to keep making the software and then I have to convert (a lot of) files to another format. So it's not that I don't like iWork (I love it actually), it's that I want my data in open format and it looks like odf is a good choice(?).
The admins were clueless and therefore rigid and authoritarian. I think you hit on something I never realized. The more clueless the admin, the more authoritarian they become (and also by yor example, the more confident they are the more meaningful the interactions are). I wish I could moderate and mark your comment insightful.
The worst type of user is the tech guy who doesn't work in IT. They always think they know better, they have a massive attitude, and a huge superiority complex. This hits close to home. The IT department here is "windows certified" 'nough said.
After dealing with windows that take about 10 min to load (networked everything crap), them preventing me from putting a firewall on the pc so stupid preinstalled programs don't call home every 10 seconds, them really not knowing how to set up virtual drives:
I had to get my own laptop (mac). They know about it as I wouldn't do anything behind their backs, it's just not professional. Now they leave me alone and I leave them alone. I have internet access and that is all I need (college setting).
I know I'm displaying my ignorance, but I can't find a reliable list somewhere that has models numbers of things that work. And even if I find the model numbers, there are different versions with different chipsets of the same model and there is no guarantee that the model you get has the chipset you want.
I bought 2 wireless cards this way and both needed wrappers and I went back to an ethernet cable and gave up on it.
I remember 10 years ago I was begging people to tell me which motherboard to get for a specific distro and no one would say (multiple sites and boards).
Don't insult me I know it's my fault but I know more that the average user does, and so if I had trouble I know they will.
Who are the people who click on adds? Are they the same people who buy the products sold by spam?
I have in the past (ads not spam).
If I'm looking for something, I'll search for it. Sometimes an ad is more useful than the results. So I'll click on it.
Now if I come across an unsolicited ad, I don't click on it (and in fact have adblock).
I hope this completely anecdotal data point helps. (It makes sense to me why Google makes money and others don't as much)
I agree with you. My point is that at least with the equation editor it was useful adware, and more in the spirit of "if you found this useful, there is the full product, if not, I won't bug you again".
I've recently played with a friend's quicken software on windows and I consider that to be "real" adware since every screen had a blatant ad on it where you wonder why you paid for the software if it was so ad laden.
(I don't use MS Office (or Windows) anymore and I try to not use anything MS)
I remember buying MathType in 1997 or so because I found it in Word. I was grateful as I wouldn't have known about MathType otherwise (then).
I guess my point is that it was helpful (for both me and the third party) since it led me to find a program I used a lot from a small 3rd party.
I hated having to find programs ($20 or $30 for something I needed to use once so I didn't do it) though that did what Office should have been able to do (I really can't remember what now but I remember being really angry because they were simple things).
... i can think of much better ways to spend money.
Better ways for *you* to spend money. I personally would spend quite a lot of money to be able to drop a paper plane out of a space station. That's well and good if it's your money, but if it's taxpayer money, then *you* are using *his/her* money to drop the paper plane.
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I really want to agree with you but I teach at a small college and (almost) all my students couldn't care less about Microsoft and trust. They all have hotmail or msn or yahoo email addresses, lay it all out on facebook and myspace and they don't know about MSs tactics. So if MS is shooting for the (lucrative) young-and-ignorant demographic, they will succeed (people who know what they are in the minority).
I've found that young people very trusting and don't care about privacy.
So just like the rest of the sleazy successful businesses of targeting the ignorant (spam, late night commercials, mailings, etc.), they will find a big market and make money...
Wal-mart doesn't make money by earning trust or catering to the elite either. Same market.
I agree with you about AVG and recommend that and Zonealarm to windows people as free (cost) alternative.
I just think it's funny how both websites hide the free versions to the point what it's easier to google 'free AVG' or 'free zonearalarm' (if you don't want to run through the maze the websites put you through).
Including Ubuntu?
You mean like DRM?
I thought most manufacturers give you a list of all the drivers you need on their website when you select the model.
Thank you, I never looked until now (didn't even occur to me that it was a package). I should have looked before I posted.
oops! still not a word :)
You know what's going to happen though after step 6?
The new company will turn evil and become just as bad as the company it usurped.
The cycle of life continues...
"Irrigardless" is not a word. If you are going to troll, at least use proper English so you have some credibility.
I use iWork but I'm worried that one day Apple will decide they don't want to keep making the software and then I have to convert (a lot of) files to another format.
So it's not that I don't like iWork (I love it actually), it's that I want my data in open format and it looks like odf is a good choice(?).
It's great but ultimately MS got money from your family so they got the dollar-votes...
Please use a screen friendly font.
I know I'm displaying my ignorance, but I can't find a reliable list somewhere that has models numbers of things that work. And even if I find the model numbers, there are different versions with different chipsets of the same model and there is no guarantee that the model you get has the chipset you want.
I bought 2 wireless cards this way and both needed wrappers and I went back to an ethernet cable and gave up on it.
I remember 10 years ago I was begging people to tell me which motherboard to get for a specific distro and no one would say (multiple sites and boards).
Don't insult me I know it's my fault but I know more that the average user does, and so if I had trouble I know they will.
I have in the past (ads not spam).
If I'm looking for something, I'll search for it. Sometimes an ad is more useful than the results. So I'll click on it.
Now if I come across an unsolicited ad, I don't click on it (and in fact have adblock).
I hope this completely anecdotal data point helps. (It makes sense to me why Google makes money and others don't as much)
I agree with you. My point is that at least with the equation editor it was useful adware, and more in the spirit of "if you found this useful, there is the full product, if not, I won't bug you again".
I've recently played with a friend's quicken software on windows and I consider that to be "real" adware since every screen had a blatant ad on it where you wonder why you paid for the software if it was so ad laden.
(I don't use MS Office (or Windows) anymore and I try to not use anything MS)
I remember buying MathType in 1997 or so because I found it in Word. I was grateful as I wouldn't have known about MathType otherwise (then).
I guess my point is that it was helpful (for both me and the third party) since it led me to find a program I used a lot from a small 3rd party.
I hated having to find programs ($20 or $30 for something I needed to use once so I didn't do it) though that did what Office should have been able to do (I really can't remember what now but I remember being really angry because they were simple things).
What if you mailed the laptop to yourself. If it's encrypted there is no one from whom to ask a password (if they even open the package).
... i can think of much better ways to spend money. Better ways for *you* to spend money. I personally would spend quite a lot of money to be able to drop a paper plane out of a space station. That's well and good if it's your money, but if it's taxpayer money, then *you* are using *his/her* money to drop the paper plane.I think mac software is the reason people own mac hardware not the other way around.
It's funny:
I can watch new theatrical release movies on my mac. All I have to to is take it with me to the movie theater and watch the movie there...
Sorry, couldn't help (please take this as trying to be funny, not as trying to argue with you).
But I shouldn't have to.
And an apron.